Bloomfield Early Learning Center Is Home Again

BLOOMFIELD —The walls are freshly painted and the asbestos tiles have been replaced. The new heating and central air conditioning unit are on the roof, replacing a broken-down boiler in the basement and window units that barely managed to fend off the summer heat.

A nearly two-year absence from the Rockwell Avenue building the Bloomfield Early Learning Center had called home for almost four decades has ended and dozens of young children are back, playing games, learning to read, taking naps and learning arts and crafts.

But the return of the preschool program for lower- and middle-income families wasn't easy -- or even predicted by just about anyone other than Deborah Lord.

"I knew, but not too many other people did," said Lord, the learning center's longtime director.

The center's future in the building was already looking bleak in October 2011. Town and elected officials had grown tired of putting taxpayer money into the building and were worried that a catastrophic failure of the heating system could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The center had already been ordered out of the building by the West Hartford/Bloomfield Health District because it was too cold for children when the surprise October snowstorm struck, knocking out power to large parts of the town for more than a week.

The basement flooded and the water rose dangerously close to the main electrical system, prompting town officials to padlock the doors and evict the early learning center.

The center sued the town, alleging that it had broken the lease by not keeping the furnace in good working order. A judge ordered the town to find a suitable replacement space.

The town spent about $35,000 renovating six classrooms at the senior center and the two parties entered into a stipulated agreement allowing the learning center to operate there until the end of April, 2013.

Town officials also discussed the possibility of selling the building to the early learning center, but those talks stalled. The the Corporation for Independent Living stepped in and offered to buy the building and make the necessary repairs to allow the day care to move back in. The daycare now pays CIL $4,000 a month on a 30-year lease. At the end of the lease period, CIL will hand over the deed to the property.

"This is forever," Lord said. "We're happy to be home."

Currently the day care has 77 3- and 4-year-olds from Bloomfield and several other towns enrolled in the program. Lord said they plan to add another class of 3-year-olds in the fall and add a before- and after-school program for school-aged children.

Lord said she hopes there are no hard feelings between the town and the center, but added that both parties got what they wanted. The town is no longer involved with the center and the center is back where it belongs.

"We got a divorce and I got the children," she said. "I think that's a good deal."

Mayor Sidney Schulman said any resentment town officials may have had evaporated when the building was sold for $200,000 and joined the list of taxable property.

"It's an excellent solution to a long, long, long, dragged-out problem, Schulman said. "Now we have a usable building on the tax rolls and a bunch of Bloomfield children getting an excellent education."